Great video Jens and all good stuff. What recently helped pull all my tricks together was making teaching videos. It documented my learnings, made me reexamine what I thought I knew and made me realize, that there's a lot more that I can do. It also led me into new territory.
@@JensLarsen it's also the other side of playing with musicians who are better than you. If you're the more advanced musician, you can mentor someone and it will improve your own skills. You know this as well as anyone and that's why you're an excellent musician and teacher.
one benefit I have found with reading music on guitar is it really forces you to learn the fretboard. Meaning the process of learning to read music with guitar forces you to make choices and figure out where you are going to play efficiently, as opposed to just relying on tabs that tell you what position to play in, and what frets. Those choice also lets you play in different positions which in a band or a mix can sound better or more interesting. This does tie into music theory as well as you can see how the musical notes fit together within a key (or not).
Great point about reading music. When I started reading sheet music for piano, it felt like I was “typing” out the notes as you described. But over time, I started to hear the music on the page before I touched the keys. I think this is an under utilized tool for ear training. Now, before I read anything, I will imagine what the music I want to sound like before I strike the keys.
Learning a piano piece I haven't heard, or only heard some and not paid attention to feels like that...wooden and dead. I find that once I have the phrases learned to the point where the fingering is automatic I begin to "play" and not "type", but the typing part is essential to build the automatic "muscle memory", at least for me.
I agree with all of these. I transcribed Charlie Parker solos in high school, the only thing is I thought the tempos were half as fast as they really were, so I had a lot of 16th and 32nd notes in my notation, haha. Sight reading is something I use every single day as session guitarist in Los Angeles, I can read on pretty much any stringed instrument in any tuning, a skill that sets me apart from the thousands of guitarists here trying to make a living.
My late father was a professional musician in New Orleans and had played all the ‘high spots’ in the French Quarter. He played piano and accordion at the ‘piano bar, playing both at the same time, and people would flock to hear him😊 he played totally by ear.
Looking at your list, I'm pairing complementary skills: 1 Learn by Ear & 5 Read Music 2 Self Evaluate & 7 Play With Others 3 Know the Fretboard & 4 Know Theory Excellent list. Lifelong practice is equally important in all of them to build, maintain, strengthen and expand a lifelong base. Current focus on whatever skills will improve ability to contribute in whatever opportunities presently arise triggers growth spurts even decades in, and keeps it all fresh. Thank you!
Great pairings. I've found if you're good at one you're not usually good at the complimentary one. eg read music really well but you don't listen because you just read really well
About listening skills: it is my experience as a guitarteacher that it helps students who try to identify chords to not just listen to the stack of tones but be aware of the FUNCTION of the chord in context of a progression. It helps recognition of the chord type when you hear a tonic, subdominant or dominant function.
I like Jens' video before I even watch them. He is the master of making jazz accessible. All of these suggestions are gold. Thanks for everything Jens Jazz Warrior.
Recording yourself is quite an essential habit you should practice not only in music but in many occupations; oh! and not just audio recording but video recording as well. You might be dancing, giving a speech or snowboarding or playing an instrument, just see yourself performing, it will tell you more than thousands of words. I admit it is a kind of wall to be overcome. But sooner the better. I appreciate Jens' channel. Full of wisdom. Thank you
I liked that little pentatonic example. Hearing it three times but only one of those times sounding like music was clever. It quickly illustrates how important phrasing and bothering to compose a compelling melody are. Good example for anyone who needs to understand the difference between music and just mechanically stacking notes.
Jens, you've kept it 100 in this vid. This video is 'REAL TALK'! Ive been recording myself practicing and playing for quite some time now. It is massively important.
Jens, you're the kind of teacher I am happy to listen to because I feel like you give useful information applicable to real life while also emphasizing the fun of making music! Content with substance - det er skidegodt!
Great Tips! 1) Learn by Ear/Transcribe 2) Video record self for self reflection 3) Fretboard knowledge (relate it to what you play/learn) 4) Make theory applicable 5) Read Music (useful info from rhythm/ pitch etc...) 6) Guitar Maintenance 7) Play Music with Others!
One way I improve is by just learning and playing a ton of songs, which almost always introduce you to some kind of chord (or chord voicing) you've never seen before, not to mention the different rhythms, cadences, swings, timings, etc. that you get from them. Your brain will start to make connections about new things that you never thought possible. I picked up a Beatles song book the other day and was surprised at the sheer number of chords they used in many of their compositions (some of them have 12 or more unique chords per song, many of them bar chords).
As a person who uses tabs and scores, scores are way superior: it gives way more information than just the positions and it's just about taking 10mn each day and reading with the bonus of being able to analyse the best composers and non guitarist musicians and you can do in the bus going to work or in bed before sleeping.
With regard to music theory and reading music: I started keeping a small notebook. The notebook allows me to experiment with writing notation and is also a place for me to externalise theory (i.e. try and write down what I already know). As well as the notebook, I also have a bottle of Tipp-Ex, because I make lots of mistakes that need to be corrected. But that's all part of the process!
Jens - your content has always been the same high quality that I've enjoyed and learned from for several years now, but I want to mention how skilled your video editing has become recently, not that it was ever bad. I see your video lessons becoming more succinct and direct in how you explain to your audience something that can be daunting like jazz theory.. reconciling that w/ the whole youtube meta is no small feat; you've really come into your element. That Kenny G was a nice touch. I think it's really cool and love seeing how you've grown your channel since I found it a few years ago - you've helped spread the beauty & importance of jazz guitar to millions of people and you've only gotten better at communicating your message - thank you for being such a legend! Quick Q: I agree that being able to play by ear is the way, but the way you talk about reading intrigues me. I learned how to read music a playing violin and sax when I was a kid, but haven't ever considered it on guitar - I do detest tabs; I just need to know the chord changes, but that's also dubious and can trick your ear depending on inversions, omitting notes, and how many ways you can voice or imply a chord on guitar. Do you have any content on how to practice sight reading? For most pitches of a given note on the guitar there's at least more than 1 spot you can play the same thing - how do you know where on the neck to play a note you read on the staff? On a keyboard everything is linear and when you see a note on the staff it can only be one thing, but I see what you're saying in the value of reading sheet music as a way to speed up the process of playing what you hear/feel. Also - playing w/ other people is invaluable, great point, what other art form is as collaborative!? And setting up your own instrument gets you so much closer to it... tho it's good to have a professional you can call on.. a guitar is never really in tune anyway, this complex system of tension. You ever notice how the pitch changes if you tune it laying flat or how once the friction from your fingers warms up the strings it goes out of tune?
Everyone agrees, Jens: you have the most thoughtful and practical advice. But it is your humanity and humility that make your instruction so meaningful. Thank you.
One of the best advice I got from my teacher (Jackie King) playing with others is ' my job is to make the others sound as best as possible' it's not all about me. The other thing I've learned is there's each instrument and the collective sound to listen total sound try to make that good... Always so much to learn and reading and theory are very helpful...
Thanks So very much for this Video....For me there has always been a disconnect between Ear players and readers of musical notation...I am an ear player and for me it really has been a wonderful journey to play with some really great musicians...I never understood why people would want to learn a song that they have never listened to..? I really enjoy the “ Wrong “ notes against The chord progressions it is so refreshing after years of playing 1-4-5 pieces of music I did really play any Jazz until I was about 40 years old...When the Female vocalist wanted the Band to play “ Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend “ And the Saxophonist came To Practice with “ Harlem Nocturne “ Lots of practice for me but the chord progressions were really awesome...Mr. Larsen please Know You are a Tremendous Blessing to my musical life and I know what You mean by setups...How,ever I have been lucky that I am an Aircraft Propeller Blade Technician and so mechanical things have come pretty easy for me...God Bless You and Your Family Always...
Singing Notes...you might enjoy the cutting edge of awareness: "The Solfeggio Tradition" 2020 What Barry Harris is to BeBop scales....Baragwanath is to hexachordal foundations of western harmony, and historic improvisation. Great video, thank you.
I find your video refreshing, for a few reasons. One is, you invited us to comment on what we thought is essential to learning or improving, in comparison to your suggestions. I have literally had my comments deleted repeatedly and have been blocked, due to putting my two cents into the comments of videos, where someone is intent on selling someone a course and their goal to make money obviously outweighs their goal to see people improve, one way or another. I find there are different learning styles and different teaching styles. and we all need something different, as a student or a teacher. I am the type of person that likes to break down things to their most elemental parts, so it is easier to understand them. I feel others do exactly the opposite, or start somewhere, arbitrarily in between. I find that there are two aspects to playing guitar. One is the musicianship side of it and the other is the technical side of it. Every guitar player is better at one or the other. A way to look at it is, a great musician will be able to express it many ways. A great guitarist will likely not be so impressive, as soon as you get them away from the guitar, even may get a lot of criticism, for their songs not being that good, or their inability to write great original songs. A great musician, who isn't great on any particular instrument, will get praise for their music or credit for their contribution to songs. So, how does that relate to what you were sharing? Another to look at this is, there is a good bet that your favorite guitar player is likely both a really good musician, as well as uses amazing technique to display it. David Gilmore isn't the most technical guitarist, but he does a great job of blending technique with musicianship. Reb Beech is another guitarist who blends technique, with great musicianship. He is more technical than David Gilmore, but still a very good musician, even if his material doesn't have the fanfare of Pink Floyd. You may not even know Reb, but one you realize what he has written or had a hand in, you would see that he has been a part of music people really like, no matter who he is playing with, whether it was his original material or not. Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton are both good musicians and really good guitar players also. Bob Dylan is an example of someone who isn't all that great of a technical guitar player, or singer for that matter, as compared with many other vocalists, but his musicianship is undeniable. His songs made it to the radio, and he has had bands remake them. First and foremost, the ear training is essential to be a really good musician and ideally useful in the playing of any instrument. If you can perform and technique on the guitar, but can only play from tabs or sheet music, you are typing as you said. I struggle with it, lost quite often in the harmonies and overdubs of modern music. Sometimes I thinks I should go ahead and spend time learning some of the 20's-50's music, since it was so much simpler, before all of our modern cheats. This for me is a gift, if you didn't have to practice it or go through a bunch of complicated exercises to improve it. I recognize some things and remember some things, just not well enough or fast enough to suit myself, and most likely not many others either. When it comes to technique, I see that there are basically three ways to play guitar, apart from what I call tricks (hammer ons, pull offs, whammy dives, pinch harmonics, trills, etc.) or the use of effects to create rhythm (ex. echo plex), tone, texture, etc. You can strum chords, or you can pick the notes of the chords in patterns, or you can pick notes at various speeds that aren't in chords, regardless of whether you play them from scales, modes, or create your own riffs, which may include pieces of chords, picked as more or less individual notes or sweep picked, which is the equivalent of basically getting as close as you can to strumming a scale or parts of scales put together, which may be part of chords that are blended with parts of scales, or referred to as double or triple stops, etc. I am absolutely terrible at sweep picking, arpeggios, or playing scales. It starts to feel mechanical, and I struggle to be what I feel is being musical. Perhaps this is more so since it is more difficult to be rhythmic while attempting to get proficient at it. Part of that is that I go from playing chords in some capacity, where I am absolutely familiar with its contents and confines, to suddenly having no boundaries, where to suddenly avoiding the mine field of bad notes, my brain can't keep up with the speed at which the piece needs to maintain, for continuity. Eddie Van Halen called this weak knowledge of the finger board. I can look at the finger board and tell you the note names, but I do it by sight and then thought, and not by feel or by ear. I find the only way to be a sight-oriented player is to figure out what you want to play in advance and practice it to death. To suggest this idea has no place in music or guitar playing isn't true. David Gilmore, for all his talent and improvisational skills, used a very in-depth scheme of planning to create his Comfortable Numb solos. It didn't all come out in a single improvisation session, nor did it come to him in his head, in one continuous piece, that he suddenly replicated aloud in one take. He used a rating system for the licks he improvised over the rhythm track, while playing to it for extended periods of time and them worked out how he could put them together in phrases, where they were able to be played cleanly and rhythmically, while switching from one to another. In fact, I would be willing to bet that some of the greatest things we have ever heard have come from some degree of planning and practice and didn't happen in 5 minutes, that just came to them. Ozzy Osbourne said of Randy Rhoades, he would lock himself in a room all night, while everyone else was partying, so he could work out all of his guitar parts. Some painters throw buckets of paint on the wall in 2 minutes and call it art. Others spend decades, planning every brushstroke and color they'll use. I find guitar playing is like that. I find part of teaching someone or learning guitar yourself involves teaching them or learning how to think, not just what to do. Hopefully eventually, once you've put the right amount of thought into it, you'll be able to do whatever you want, without thinking about it. I hope my thoughts are appreciated and useful to someone who is trying to learn or seriously breaking down how they would teach someone. Thanks for your time.
Lots of good points! I know reading music seems to scare a lot of guitarists, and it is harder on guitar than piano, but it can be REALLY useful, especially since it helps fingerboard knowledge, is more rhythmically precise, AND you can learn to read piano, sax, violin, bass, and other instrument's parts too, very utilitarian..
Love the video 🤘🤘 What resonates with me is the listening part! It's a great point & what I've notice about most musicians (including myself) is that we don't listen to enough music (especially other genres outside of the ones we like) Great job 🙏🤘🤘🙏🙏
Very very solid advice Jens. I agree with everything you said. Another advantage of learning to doing your own set ups is that a luthier cannot read your mind and will often not get the setup exactly how you like it even if they got it right in theory, or for the way THEY like it. A good luthier should always be able to do a good setup but only you will be able to get a guitar set up great - for you. It is an essential skill and most of the important stuff (truss rod, action, etc. ) is easy to learn and you can get great at it with a little bit of practice. It’s well worth the effort.
I was surprised you mentioned " She's Funny That Way" not a very well known tune. I found a nice Barry Galbraith version, showing that a beautiful chord/melody arrangement need not be complicated. Thanks, Jens
Ear training is really hard. It is so easy to hear what a single note is, and can be easily figured out even when you cannot play it right at first moment. But it becomes much more complex for hearing chords, especially when the chord is not in the key, or it is inversion chord (together with complex chord with 7/9/11 and inversion). As a self-taught guitar learner this is probably my nightmare.
A lot of that is also about knowing styles and learning to hear the context that the chord is in. You don't need to get it right on the spot when you are learning by ear, you can listen to it 200 times if that is what is needed, and you work from hearing the basic chord quality to adding extensions and or alterations. It is worth working on, but you want to figure out how to be efficient.
@@JensLarsen I subscribed to the channel and every week they publish a short reel (1 minute video), it’s less comfortable in my opinion For some reason they didn’t publish the full length regular videos (like this one)
@@JensLarsen it’s THEM !! Hahaha. Anyway I’m sure it’s inside the channel. I was talking about what they publish on the notifications (with the bell 🛎 icon) … Anyway thank you very much dear Lars for the knowledge that you give ! It’s helps a lot and very interesting . LOVE it 🥰
Jens, great video! I completely agree with you on the topic of learning to read standard music notation. It’s really the only good way to communicate intelligently with other musicians. I am the sole guitarist in a big band and I have to be able to read to know what the composer or arranger had in mind. Also, I have to understand what messages are being conveyed when our director gives instructions to the other sections. Yes, I play a lot of quarter note jazz chords a la Freddy Green, but there are a number of tunes where the guitar is playing triads and the inversions and voice leading are critical. Learning the entire fret board is intimidating for some, but it is critical to accomplish. A little every day, at ever practice session, bit by bit, gets the job done. This can be included with the practice of diatonic triads or tetrads, one of my favorite exercises you recommend. I’m surprised you didn’t talk about using a metronome (if you did, I missed it). Thanks for your wonderful teaching!
I went to school for classical guitar performance and I actually think that sheet music is much better for understanding the music, even when tabs have rhythm, tabs tell you 'exactly' what the player did whereas sheet music allows you to play the same music in a way that fits your playing.
Good list Jens. I relate to the set up stuff - I had a very fiddly guitar that always seemed to need something, so I gained some confidence adjusting action, truss rod, frets, etc... then I got another guitar that barely even gets out of tune and is so stable that I barely have to do anything. The finish chips easy though, so I got into minor refinishing.
Sounds comfortable with a guitar like that! I feel that my guitars are stable in periods and unstable in others (or I am just doing everything wrong 😂)
Great list. I didn't expect to agree with each, having considered such a title to be clickbait, but it's all solid stuff. Good point about sheet music, and actually this answers an earlier complaint I had about how charts from "Samba de uma nota só" will show all these elaborate chords in a sequence, but you really only need to spend 1 minute to see the melody line playing this repeating note (D or Re at first) over the first cluster of chords to understand that it's just basically like a suspended note hanging out over all the chords, which are normal 7th chords (if you want them to be) underneath.... the melody line is in the sheet music. also good point about rhythm not being shown in tablature, although the ORIGINAL tablature, such as what Bach would have written for lute, DOES have rudimentary rhythmic notation over the tabs.
Gotta say, having access to Kenny G. sheet music is what I always wanted for my birthday. It surely would be very difficult and abstract to try to transcribe it by ear, unlike something earthy and humane like Coltrane solos.
Great video. I'm glad you mentioned doing set ups. I've been doing my own set ups for a long time. I've added to my skill set in this regard over the years. I still take my guitar to a luthier for fret work and new nuts. The next frontier from me is the guitar electronics. If you can get a great setup on your guitar as a starting point, the only thing you'll have to mess with most of the time on the road or for seasonal changes is the truss rod adjustment. I think it's a must for guitar players t know how to do this, for the reasons you mentioned.
learning by ear is obviously very valuable skill to have but if u wanna step it up a notch try learning from memory that is also really fun because when you compare u can hear the difference from what your brain heard(or wanted to hear) and how the song actually is
Jens, I've got to ask if you like Phish... That guitar graphic at 1:05 is Trey Anastasio's custom Paul Languedoc guitar. Is that intentional? Love all your work, sir!
Great advice as ever. In recent years of listening to jazz I have been making more of an effort to listen to the ensemble as a whole rather than just the lines of the soloist and I think that's something similar to what you're saying in point 7
Thanks Jens. I have a question. Fear example, if I am learning a new song and I have the sheet music and the recording, should I learn the tune from the sheet music and use the recording to verify I am playing it right or the opposite, try to figure it out by ear and use the sheet music if I get stuck? Thanks.
Even though there are tabs or videos out there for most songs i still mostly resist the sheet and say no I'll learn this by listening to the song like in the old days and getting out the piece of paper and writing it down myself - i also tend to remember better in the long run as it is slower to learn by ear than sheet music so slow learning is better for it staying with you. I also think it helps your sense of relative pitch for intervals whether melody or harmony because you're working it out and the relative mistakes let you know when you are right when you get it right. Also i think a good way to start learning by ear is to start with bass guitar to get those important root note changes that underwrite the song.
A I totally agree with all your saying . Then, again there are many examples of wonderful musicians who couldn't even read music let alone know any. Theory..
Rick Graham in a Jens Larsen video? That’s a win! Man, great insights all around. I have the same weakness with #6 setting up the guitar. I usually leave most setting up to people I trust, but really should get in there, get my hands dirty, and get more into the guitar gear nerd kind of stuff. I’m more of a theory nerd. Thanks for sharing, Jens!
On the guitar setup front, I first fiddled around with small electronic mods that Dan Torres use to write about in Vintage Guitar. He doesn’t this anymore, way back in the early 90s before the internet, I ordered his kits by mail and even sent my Hondoll tobacco sunburst for him to do the frets . They were perfect all the way up the neck! Anyway eventually I got up the courage and some knowledge on how to setup my Warmoth Stratocaster. I wasn’t happy how I was coming along so I answered an of a “guitar repair “ guy . We agreed on $300. It took him quite awhile and I wasn’t getting updates. Anyway he finished the work, griped about how long it took and that he should have charged more . I said we agree on $300 and that’s what paid. When played my guitar it was not like the excellent work that Dan Torres had done on my Hondoll Les Paul . I didn’t bother calling the guy . From that point on I work on my own guitars! I’ve upgraded all the parts on my Warmoth Stratocaster with hi quality parts ! It’s still not complete, but it’s my number one electric guitar that originally started it’s life as a National Stratocaster. Custom wounded pickups by Jim Rolph , who did pickups for the great Scotty Henderson . Jim is a great and we talked on the phone like we were old friends! I have someone who is working on one on my acoustics. We did some bartering. He needed free guitars to practice luthiery and I had plenty of candidates to offer , plus he was donating some to veterans which I had to get behind.
Excellent video. And don’t forget people skills when you’re in a band. (If you are comfortable with a slower pace/less ”action” with text and sound fx I think that your high class content would shine even brighter. Thanx again!)
Thanks Nils! I will keep that in mind, though from what I see in my analytics then the high tempo fits most of the audience better, but that can of course also change 🙂
@@JensLarsen Good point! I just wanted to give some praise to your way of teaching since it's strong enough to "stand" on its own. Keep up the good work! All the best /Nils /Sweden)
Love that Joe Pass Satin Doll intro you put in there, amazing performance for all the players (love the bass vibrato). And Joe drops his pick and doesn't lose the beat. Also the drummer is the father of many Toto members
I agree with what you point out about the advantages of standard notation. But guitar tabs aren't that bad anymore, unlike the tabs you show in the video. I use guitar pro (not even the newest edition). When showing notation and tabs, the rhythm will only be shown in the standard notation. If you turn off the standard notation it shows tabs with rhythm notation. The tabs will even show left hand fingerings if you want to.
Finding other players patient enough to tolerate my playing is by far the biggest challenge. I need a group willing to put up with mistakes, fumbling, etc. Hard to find, in my experience…
I think a lot of musicians lack those two 🙂 Not sure if I think fingerstyle playing is really necessary for everyone, you have a ton of influential guitarists in many styles who never play that.
👉Excellent video Jens! I love how you're putting videos together now, with added humour, important text, great images, all contributing to and complementing your amazing teaching.👌
Jens, thanks for another great one. You are doing lots and lots of them recently! Good. It may (or may not) surprise you that a beginner, who really can't quite follow you, can still gain much from your vids too. I just stop worrying about it, listen to the words and look at the graphics, etc. And a bit sinks in. I believe so anyway. You're such a smart guy, but also an intellectually scrupulous one! Hahaha... great presenter, speaker/talker too of course. But it's demanding stuff (not this particular one, but others and in general), especially for a beginner. Still motivating! If you even decide to revisit addressing us in the even earlier stages would be great. For example, you mentioned those shell voicing as a great way to pick out a tune. But I didn't see a detailed real-world demo of how to chose a shelling voicing for an individual note in a melody. (unless I missed that). That's just a random idea. (being selfish here) But excellent advice in this vid. Thanks again!
@@JensLarsen Thanks for reponse. Yeah, let's say I am improvising a chord melody from scratch as a beginner. I am using your voicings... so I pick out notes and put the chord on beat 1 (if possible), but still don't get how to chose a shell that sounds right for the note... (would love to see a realistic, simple demo on that)I guess tiral and error? Or... maybe more theory to it. Anyway, minor beginner question (probably an ill formed question, hahaha). But would love to see more for us guys. I see you have an updated vid on the shells, so I'll check it.
@@mattherman6189 did you search for chord melody in my channel? Here's a recent video ruclips.net/video/5DlCT5F9VRc/видео.html I would suggest that this is not really a beginner thing to work on though, since it's pretty demanding in terms of fretboard knowledge and theory.
I prefer standard sheet music, because I can't figure out rhythms from guitar tabs only. I learned to read from William Leavitt's Berklee books. Since then, not a single gig I did required reading skills. They never were high paying jobs either... But they did require good ear training skills (no written music). I've seen outstanding players who can't read a single note.
I primarily play to backing tracks. I have a nasty habit of playing as I drink a couple of beers. I find I play so much better after a couple and have recorded myself to prove it. I don't like this as it makes me reliant on something, but it helps me relax and approach the fretboard from what I hear as opposed to what I know, and also is quite the inspiration to play for some reason. As primarily an ear player I have developed 'relative pitch' that will allow me to play in whatever key just by hearing a few notes to determine where I'm at. Once you learn a ton of scales the rest is just learning melodic phrasing and not being obnoxious, two things which are as difficult as anything else. Theory helps a ton as playing guitar doesn't make you a musician. Writing music from a logical perspective does. (cue hate here)
@@JensLarsen I'm still working on just playing by feel too, but then your fingers seem to mindlessly go to where you need them to go, without you knowing what's going on! and not consistently so you make mistakes. So that's not ideal?
@@chrishandley Playing by feel? Not sure what that is. I would think that you practice anything so that you don't have to think while you play. If you have to think then it is difficult to make music with it :)
@@JensLarsen perhaps I'm using the wrong term, I mean playing what instinctively sounds right and what I expect to hear along to the music I'm playing to. Nothing complicated and not bebop language or anything like that! What I play sounds right to me but it probably wouldn't to anyone with a well developed ear! I mean utilizing my limited muscle memory language of licks and phrases and matching it to the tone centre that I perceive? If that makes sense?
In a way this is very "advanced" material - yet it seems so obvious. Duh. You have got it exactly right. #1 Learn to play by ear. I always make my students do this from the first lesson. None of them come to the first lesson already doing this. And they are all mystified by it. It is either some kind of magic, or unreasonably difficult. Back in the day (...haha), there was no YT, no tab (except for acoustic folk stuff in open tunings), and no audio playback at half speed. If you wanted to learn something, you had to do it by ear off of vinyl. This is not just nostalgia; it provides a basic foundation for _making_ sounds (and for #7 Playing with others). I almost always end up in a conversation with my students something like "Why would you want to be able to play something that you can't hear?" #4 and #5 Learn "theory" and learn to read traditional notation. For the reasons you give. There is some kind of mythology that theory kills creativity. I think it was started by the tab industry... ;-) In any other endeavor that requires expertise, if someone showed you a useful tool you wouldn't say "Oh, that's too difficult!" or "That is going to ruin my rock climbing, or my carpentry, or my painting...!" You may be able to build an incredible house without a hammer, but it is a nonsensical argument that knowing how to use a hammer would not make you make you a better carpenter. Some might say "I just want to be able to play a couple of songs." or "I just want to get in front of an audience and do my thing." There is nothing wrong with that. But I would argue that that is a different goal than wanting to be a musician. # Play music with other people. Yes... but I've ranted enough for one post.
The biggest dig people have against learning theory is that many programs insist on starting with 18th Century voice leading and solving figured bass. It’s not useless knowledge, but it doesn’t connect with students who connect emotionally with more modern forms of music.
You've surprised me again! "This is No Laughing Matter," too??? "I Heard You Cried Last Night" was already surprise enough. As to "She's Funny That Way," I'm kind of shocked that in all your experience you haven't had an opportunity to play that one with others, as it is of course a standard, but maybe this is because it seems to be more of a favorite among trad jazz players.
When I was learning Jazz people only knew what was in the realbook, and that was it. Of course also because of the very small very beginner level scene I was in. It is a pity, I completely forgot those songs, I only dug out I heard You Cried Last Night because I discovered that my teacher in the Hague (who knew all the songs) didn't know that one 🙂
notation isn't all that great though for rhythm. If you got straight rhythm or syncopated written down, it's fine. But as soon as it says ''shuffle rhythm'' or whatever, it's gonna be really tough. Perhaps make a video on that, how to read shuffle notation and your take on nailing fretboard notes memorization
1. Show up on time 2. Have your gear together 3. Play in tune. 4. Don't noodle between songs 5. Rehearse at home, practice with the band 6. Play the right gig. Leave the Marshall stack at home for the coffee house gig 7. Learn to play with great time first. If your time sucks, it doesn't matter what you play.
Which Skills Are Hard and Worthwhile? 🙂
Here's how to get started with one: ruclips.net/video/zH4uQYgDotM/видео.html
Great video Jens and all good stuff. What recently helped pull all my tricks together was making teaching videos. It documented my learnings, made me reexamine what I thought I knew and made me realize, that there's a lot more that I can do. It also led me into new territory.
@@tomcripps7229 Thank you, Tom! Great that it is useful 🙂
@@JensLarsen it's also the other side of playing with musicians who are better than you. If you're the more advanced musician, you can mentor someone and it will improve your own skills. You know this as well as anyone and that's why you're an excellent musician and teacher.
The fact you started jazzing at 23 makes you even more admirable. I bow before you, master
🙂🙏
one benefit I have found with reading music on guitar is it really forces you to learn the fretboard. Meaning the process of learning to read music with guitar forces you to make choices and figure out where you are going to play efficiently, as opposed to just relying on tabs that tell you what position to play in, and what frets. Those choice also lets you play in different positions which in a band or a mix can sound better or more interesting. This does tie into music theory as well as you can see how the musical notes fit together within a key (or not).
Great point about reading music. When I started reading sheet music for piano, it felt like I was “typing” out the notes as you described. But over time, I started to hear the music on the page before I touched the keys. I think this is an under utilized tool for ear training. Now, before I read anything, I will imagine what the music I want to sound like before I strike the keys.
Exactly!!
Learning a piano piece I haven't heard, or only heard some and not paid attention to feels like that...wooden and dead. I find that once I have the phrases learned to the point where the fingering is automatic I begin to "play" and not "type", but the typing part is essential to build the automatic "muscle memory", at least for me.
I agree with all of these. I transcribed Charlie Parker solos in high school, the only thing is I thought the tempos were half as fast as they really were, so I had a lot of 16th and 32nd notes in my notation, haha. Sight reading is something I use every single day as session guitarist in Los Angeles, I can read on pretty much any stringed instrument in any tuning, a skill that sets me apart from the thousands of guitarists here trying to make a living.
My late father was a professional musician in New Orleans and had played all the ‘high spots’ in the French Quarter. He played piano and accordion at the ‘piano bar, playing both at the same time, and people would flock to hear him😊 he played totally by ear.
Sounds like a true musician if I ever heard one
Jens, you are one of the best music teachers on the internet. Thank you for the hard work you put into this.
My pleasure! Great that you find the videos useful!
Looking at your list, I'm pairing complementary skills:
1 Learn by Ear & 5 Read Music
2 Self Evaluate & 7 Play With Others
3 Know the Fretboard & 4 Know Theory
Excellent list. Lifelong practice is equally important in all of them to build, maintain, strengthen and expand a lifelong base. Current focus on whatever skills will improve ability to contribute in whatever opportunities presently arise triggers growth spurts even decades in, and keeps it all fresh.
Thank you!
Great pairings. I've found if you're good at one you're not usually good at the complimentary one. eg read music really well but you don't listen because you just read really well
About listening skills: it is my experience as a guitarteacher that it helps students who try to identify chords to not just listen to the stack of tones but be aware of the FUNCTION of the chord in context of a progression. It helps recognition of the chord type when you hear a tonic, subdominant or dominant function.
Yes, Certainly 👍
I like Jens' video before I even watch them. He is the master of making jazz accessible. All of these suggestions are gold. Thanks for everything Jens Jazz Warrior.
Thank you! I am really glad you think so 🙂
2:04 "Fret 78 on 6th string" 😂😂😂joking apart, very good suggestions in this video!
Glad you liked it!
Recording yourself is quite an essential habit you should practice not only in music but in many occupations; oh! and not just audio recording but video recording as well. You might be dancing, giving a speech or snowboarding or playing an instrument, just see yourself performing, it will tell you more than thousands of words. I admit it is a kind of wall to be overcome. But sooner the better. I appreciate Jens' channel. Full of wisdom. Thank you
I liked that little pentatonic example. Hearing it three times but only one of those times sounding like music was clever. It quickly illustrates how important phrasing and bothering to compose a compelling melody are. Good example for anyone who needs to understand the difference between music and just mechanically stacking notes.
Jens, you've kept it 100 in this vid. This video is 'REAL TALK'! Ive been recording myself practicing and playing for quite some time now. It is massively important.
Glad you like it 🙂
Jens, you're the kind of teacher I am happy to listen to because I feel like you give useful information applicable to real life while also emphasizing the fun of making music! Content with substance - det er skidegodt!
You are so welbekomme! 😁
Hear Hear!
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Great Tips!
1) Learn by Ear/Transcribe
2) Video record self for self reflection
3) Fretboard knowledge (relate it to what you play/learn)
4) Make theory applicable
5) Read Music (useful info from rhythm/ pitch etc...)
6) Guitar Maintenance
7) Play Music with Others!
One way I improve is by just learning and playing a ton of songs, which almost always introduce you to some kind of chord (or chord voicing) you've never seen before, not to mention the different rhythms, cadences, swings, timings, etc. that you get from them. Your brain will start to make connections about new things that you never thought possible. I picked up a Beatles song book the other day and was surprised at the sheer number of chords they used in many of their compositions (some of them have 12 or more unique chords per song, many of them bar chords).
As a person who uses tabs and scores, scores are way superior: it gives way more information than just the positions and it's just about taking 10mn each day and reading with the bonus of being able to analyse the best composers and non guitarist musicians and you can do in the bus going to work or in bed before sleeping.
With regard to music theory and reading music: I started keeping a small notebook. The notebook allows me to experiment with writing notation and is also a place for me to externalise theory (i.e. try and write down what I already know). As well as the notebook, I also have a bottle of Tipp-Ex, because I make lots of mistakes that need to be corrected. But that's all part of the process!
Very very good video. You explain all the essence of the different styles so well and respectfully
Thank you Uffe! Really glad you think so 🙂
This is some of the best advice I've ever seen regarding playing any instrument.
Thank you! I am glad you found it useful 🙂
Jens - your content has always been the same high quality that I've enjoyed and learned from for several years now, but I want to mention how skilled your video editing has become recently, not that it was ever bad. I see your video lessons becoming more succinct and direct in how you explain to your audience something that can be daunting like jazz theory.. reconciling that w/ the whole youtube meta is no small feat; you've really come into your element. That Kenny G was a nice touch.
I think it's really cool and love seeing how you've grown your channel since I found it a few years ago - you've helped spread the beauty & importance of jazz guitar to millions of people and you've only gotten better at communicating your message - thank you for being such a legend!
Quick Q: I agree that being able to play by ear is the way, but the way you talk about reading intrigues me. I learned how to read music a playing violin and sax when I was a kid, but haven't ever considered it on guitar - I do detest tabs; I just need to know the chord changes, but that's also dubious and can trick your ear depending on inversions, omitting notes, and how many ways you can voice or imply a chord on guitar. Do you have any content on how to practice sight reading? For most pitches of a given note on the guitar there's at least more than 1 spot you can play the same thing - how do you know where on the neck to play a note you read on the staff? On a keyboard everything is linear and when you see a note on the staff it can only be one thing, but I see what you're saying in the value of reading sheet music as a way to speed up the process of playing what you hear/feel.
Also - playing w/ other people is invaluable, great point, what other art form is as collaborative!? And setting up your own instrument gets you so much closer to it... tho it's good to have a professional you can call on.. a guitar is never really in tune anyway, this complex system of tension. You ever notice how the pitch changes if you tune it laying flat or how once the friction from your fingers warms up the strings it goes out of tune?
Everyone agrees, Jens: you have the most thoughtful and practical advice. But it is your humanity and humility that make your instruction so meaningful. Thank you.
One of the best advice I got from my teacher (Jackie King) playing with others is ' my job is to make the others sound as best as possible' it's not all about me. The other thing I've learned is there's each instrument and the collective sound to listen total sound try to make that good... Always so much to learn and reading and theory are very helpful...
That is indeed solid advice :)
Thanks So very much for this Video....For me there has always been a disconnect between Ear players and readers of musical notation...I am an ear player and for me it really has been a wonderful journey to play with some really great musicians...I never understood why people would want to learn a song that they have never listened to..? I really enjoy the “ Wrong “ notes against
The chord progressions it is so refreshing after years of playing 1-4-5 pieces of music I did really play any Jazz until I was about
40 years old...When the Female vocalist wanted the Band to play “ Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend “ And the Saxophonist came
To Practice with “ Harlem Nocturne “ Lots of practice for me but the chord progressions were really awesome...Mr. Larsen please
Know You are a Tremendous Blessing to my musical life and I know what You mean by setups...How,ever I have been lucky that
I am an Aircraft Propeller Blade Technician and so mechanical things have come pretty easy for me...God Bless You and Your Family
Always...
Best general advice I've seen on RUclips so far! Great video.
Thank you 🙂
Singing Notes...you might enjoy the cutting edge of awareness: "The Solfeggio Tradition" 2020 What Barry Harris is to BeBop scales....Baragwanath is to hexachordal foundations of western harmony, and historic improvisation. Great video, thank you.
Mr. Larsen you are a great teacher.
Glad you think so!
Great advice. Practical, Level headed, and experience-based. Thank you!
Glad you liked it 🙂
1:05 🤩 Languedoc! 🐟❤️
Lots of good information and terrific production values in your videos... you keep it entertaining!
Glad you enjoy it!
I totally agree with all the Points 👌🙏🙏👍 great advice
Great video. Good info and encouraging
Jens, I think I will try to do the recording. Reading music is a definite plus. Thank you for this lesson
Thank you for this post. It really took me back to my roots and made me reconsider my own musical life as well as how I teach.
You're very welcome! I am glad you found it useful :)
I find your video refreshing, for a few reasons. One is, you invited us to comment on what we thought is essential to learning or improving, in comparison to your suggestions. I have literally had my comments deleted repeatedly and have been blocked, due to putting my two cents into the comments of videos, where someone is intent on selling someone a course and their goal to make money obviously outweighs their goal to see people improve, one way or another. I find there are different learning styles and different teaching styles. and we all need something different, as a student or a teacher. I am the type of person that likes to break down things to their most elemental parts, so it is easier to understand them. I feel others do exactly the opposite, or start somewhere, arbitrarily in between.
I find that there are two aspects to playing guitar. One is the musicianship side of it and the other is the technical side of it. Every guitar player is better at one or the other. A way to look at it is, a great musician will be able to express it many ways. A great guitarist will likely not be so impressive, as soon as you get them away from the guitar, even may get a lot of criticism, for their songs not being that good, or their inability to write great original songs. A great musician, who isn't great on any particular instrument, will get praise for their music or credit for their contribution to songs. So, how does that relate to what you were sharing? Another to look at this is, there is a good bet that your favorite guitar player is likely both a really good musician, as well as uses amazing technique to display it. David Gilmore isn't the most technical guitarist, but he does a great job of blending technique with musicianship. Reb Beech is another guitarist who blends technique, with great musicianship. He is more technical than David Gilmore, but still a very good musician, even if his material doesn't have the fanfare of Pink Floyd. You may not even know Reb, but one you realize what he has written or had a hand in, you would see that he has been a part of music people really like, no matter who he is playing with, whether it was his original material or not. Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton are both good musicians and really good guitar players also. Bob Dylan is an example of someone who isn't all that great of a technical guitar player, or singer for that matter, as compared with many other vocalists, but his musicianship is undeniable. His songs made it to the radio, and he has had bands remake them.
First and foremost, the ear training is essential to be a really good musician and ideally useful in the playing of any instrument. If you can perform and technique on the guitar, but can only play from tabs or sheet music, you are typing as you said. I struggle with it, lost quite often in the harmonies and overdubs of modern music. Sometimes I thinks I should go ahead and spend time learning some of the 20's-50's music, since it was so much simpler, before all of our modern cheats. This for me is a gift, if you didn't have to practice it or go through a bunch of complicated exercises to improve it. I recognize some things and remember some things, just not well enough or fast enough to suit myself, and most likely not many others either.
When it comes to technique, I see that there are basically three ways to play guitar, apart from what I call tricks (hammer ons, pull offs, whammy dives, pinch harmonics, trills, etc.) or the use of effects to create rhythm (ex. echo plex), tone, texture, etc. You can strum chords, or you can pick the notes of the chords in patterns, or you can pick notes at various speeds that aren't in chords, regardless of whether you play them from scales, modes, or create your own riffs, which may include pieces of chords, picked as more or less individual notes or sweep picked, which is the equivalent of basically getting as close as you can to strumming a scale or parts of scales put together, which may be part of chords that are blended with parts of scales, or referred to as double or triple stops, etc. I am absolutely terrible at sweep picking, arpeggios, or playing scales. It starts to feel mechanical, and I struggle to be what I feel is being musical. Perhaps this is more so since it is more difficult to be rhythmic while attempting to get proficient at it. Part of that is that I go from playing chords in some capacity, where I am absolutely familiar with its contents and confines, to suddenly having no boundaries, where to suddenly avoiding the mine field of bad notes, my brain can't keep up with the speed at which the piece needs to maintain, for continuity. Eddie Van Halen called this weak knowledge of the finger board. I can look at the finger board and tell you the note names, but I do it by sight and then thought, and not by feel or by ear. I find the only way to be a sight-oriented player is to figure out what you want to play in advance and practice it to death. To suggest this idea has no place in music or guitar playing isn't true. David Gilmore, for all his talent and improvisational skills, used a very in-depth scheme of planning to create his Comfortable Numb solos. It didn't all come out in a single improvisation session, nor did it come to him in his head, in one continuous piece, that he suddenly replicated aloud in one take. He used a rating system for the licks he improvised over the rhythm track, while playing to it for extended periods of time and them worked out how he could put them together in phrases, where they were able to be played cleanly and rhythmically, while switching from one to another. In fact, I would be willing to bet that some of the greatest things we have ever heard have come from some degree of planning and practice and didn't happen in 5 minutes, that just came to them. Ozzy Osbourne said of Randy Rhoades, he would lock himself in a room all night, while everyone else was partying, so he could work out all of his guitar parts. Some painters throw buckets of paint on the wall in 2 minutes and call it art. Others spend decades, planning every brushstroke and color they'll use. I find guitar playing is like that. I find part of teaching someone or learning guitar yourself involves teaching them or learning how to think, not just what to do. Hopefully eventually, once you've put the right amount of thought into it, you'll be able to do whatever you want, without thinking about it.
I hope my thoughts are appreciated and useful to someone who is trying to learn or seriously breaking down how they would teach someone. Thanks for your time.
Lots of good points! I know reading music seems to scare a lot of guitarists, and it is harder on guitar than piano, but it can be REALLY useful, especially since it helps fingerboard knowledge, is more rhythmically precise, AND you can learn to read piano, sax, violin, bass, and other instrument's parts too, very utilitarian..
Love the video 🤘🤘 What resonates with me is the listening part! It's a great point & what I've notice about most musicians (including myself) is that we don't listen to enough music (especially other genres outside of the ones we like) Great job 🙏🤘🤘🙏🙏
True! I also always want to spend more time listening 🙂
Thanks Jens ! You're a musicle jeenyus !
THanks for checking it out Kevin 🙂
Playing in the breeze ❤
Indeed 🙂 Learned a lot from that album
Very very solid advice Jens. I agree with everything you said. Another advantage of learning to doing your own set ups is that a luthier cannot read your mind and will often not get the setup exactly how you like it even if they got it right in theory, or for the way THEY like it. A good luthier should always be able to do a good setup but only you will be able to get a guitar set up great - for you. It is an essential skill and most of the important stuff (truss rod, action, etc. ) is easy to learn and you can get great at it with a little bit of practice. It’s well worth the effort.
Glad you like it 🙂 yes, it is important also for learning what you like in your playing
Another great video. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you ; I think you did not forget no point at all.
Thank you! I did play there a few times, mostly at a jam session though :)
I was surprised you mentioned " She's Funny That Way" not a very well known tune. I found a nice Barry Galbraith version, showing that a beautiful chord/melody arrangement need not be complicated. Thanks, Jens
Top stuff as always Jens!!! You rock (ahem, jazz)
Thank you Jacob 🙂
Thanks Jens, your channel and lessons have helped me in so many ways and I really enjoy your material. All the best mate!
Really makes my day to hear that 🙂
Great advice! Thanks for sharing
Ear training is really hard.
It is so easy to hear what a single note is, and can be easily figured out even when you cannot play it right at first moment.
But it becomes much more complex for hearing chords, especially when the chord is not in the key, or it is inversion chord (together with complex chord with 7/9/11 and inversion).
As a self-taught guitar learner this is probably my nightmare.
A lot of that is also about knowing styles and learning to hear the context that the chord is in.
You don't need to get it right on the spot when you are learning by ear, you can listen to it 200 times if that is what is needed, and you work from hearing the basic chord quality to adding extensions and or alterations. It is worth working on, but you want to figure out how to be efficient.
Thanks-nothing has helped me as much as learning to read music.
Glad to hear that!
Good that the regular videos are back 👍🤘 ! (And not the reels)
Well done 👏🏻
What? They were there every week? Not sure what you are talking about? 🙂
@@JensLarsen I subscribed to the channel and every week they publish a short reel (1 minute video), it’s less comfortable in my opinion
For some reason they didn’t publish the full length regular videos (like this one)
@@גיליצחקשפירא that is not true, you can go to the channel and look for yourself 🙂 and there is no "they" It is just me running it
@@JensLarsen it’s THEM !! Hahaha.
Anyway I’m sure it’s inside the channel.
I was talking about what they publish on the notifications (with the bell 🛎 icon) …
Anyway thank you very much dear Lars for the knowledge that you give ! It’s helps a lot and very interesting . LOVE it 🥰
Jens, great video! I completely agree with you on the topic of learning to read standard music notation. It’s really the only good way to communicate intelligently with other musicians. I am the sole guitarist in a big band and I have to be able to read to know what the composer or arranger had in mind. Also, I have to understand what messages are being conveyed when our director gives instructions to the other sections. Yes, I play a lot of quarter note jazz chords a la Freddy Green, but there are a number of tunes where the guitar is playing triads and the inversions and voice leading are critical. Learning the entire fret board is intimidating for some, but it is critical to accomplish. A little every day, at ever practice session, bit by bit, gets the job done. This can be included with the practice of diatonic triads or tetrads, one of my favorite exercises you recommend.
I’m surprised you didn’t talk about using a metronome (if you did, I missed it). Thanks for your wonderful teaching!
Yes, exactly!
As for the metronome: I can't put everything in every video 🙂
Hey! Great pieces of advice! Thanks for sharing!!!
Glad it was useful :)
I went to school for classical guitar performance and I actually think that sheet music is much better for understanding the music, even when tabs have rhythm, tabs tell you 'exactly' what the player did whereas sheet music allows you to play the same music in a way that fits your playing.
Thank You Jens for all You do! Flow and Melody grab the listener. Love starting simple
Great that it is useful! :)
Good list Jens. I relate to the set up stuff - I had a very fiddly guitar that always seemed to need something, so I gained some confidence adjusting action, truss rod, frets, etc... then I got another guitar that barely even gets out of tune and is so stable that I barely have to do anything. The finish chips easy though, so I got into minor refinishing.
Sounds comfortable with a guitar like that! I feel that my guitars are stable in periods and unstable in others (or I am just doing everything wrong 😂)
@@JensLarsen I doubt that. I do keep my guitars cased (safe from our pet cats) which I think helps a bit.
Excellent advice
Thank you 🙂
Thankyou Jens .
Glad you like it 🙂
Great list. I didn't expect to agree with each, having considered such a title to be clickbait, but it's all solid stuff.
Good point about sheet music, and actually this answers an earlier complaint I had about how charts from "Samba de uma nota só" will show all these elaborate chords in a sequence, but you really only need to spend 1 minute to see the melody line playing this repeating note (D or Re at first) over the first cluster of chords to understand that it's just basically like a suspended note hanging out over all the chords, which are normal 7th chords (if you want them to be) underneath.... the melody line is in the sheet music. also good point about rhythm not being shown in tablature, although the ORIGINAL tablature, such as what Bach would have written for lute, DOES have rudimentary rhythmic notation over the tabs.
Gotta say, having access to Kenny G. sheet music is what I always wanted for my birthday. It surely would be very difficult and abstract to try to transcribe it by ear, unlike something earthy and humane like Coltrane solos.
I enjoy your music …. And your humor.😀
😁🙏🙏
Great video Jens!
Thank you, Jostein 🙂👍 I appreciate that coming from you
Great video. I'm glad you mentioned doing set ups. I've been doing my own set ups for a long time. I've added to my skill set in this regard over the years. I still take my guitar to a luthier for fret work and new nuts. The next frontier from me is the guitar electronics. If you can get a great setup on your guitar as a starting point, the only thing you'll have to mess with most of the time on the road or for seasonal changes is the truss rod adjustment. I think it's a must for guitar players t know how to do this, for the reasons you mentioned.
learning by ear is obviously very valuable skill to have but if u wanna step it up a notch try learning from memory that is also really fun because when you compare u can hear the difference from what your brain heard(or wanted to hear) and how the song actually is
I love your humour Jens... Great video 😎
Thank you Christian!
Jens, I've got to ask if you like Phish... That guitar graphic at 1:05 is Trey Anastasio's custom Paul Languedoc guitar. Is that intentional? Love all your work, sir!
Thanks! No, that is a coincidence, and I didn't know until people made me aware in the comments :)
Thanks for another great lesson, Jens! I find your channel very valuable!!
Glad you think so!
Another great lesson
Glad you enjoyed it
Great Video Jens! Curious to how you go about manually focusing on the guitar when you are recording playing??
Thank you! I don't I tell it to lock the auto focus on on point and the I record what I want to play 🙂
Great advice as ever. In recent years of listening to jazz I have been making more of an effort to listen to the ensemble as a whole rather than just the lines of the soloist and I think that's something similar to what you're saying in point 7
Burst out laughing at 4:21 to 4:24 😂. Thank you for the informative and useful videos! Best Regards and Best Wishes!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks Jens. I have a question. Fear example, if I am learning a new song and I have the sheet music and the recording, should I learn the tune from the sheet music and use the recording to verify I am playing it right or the opposite, try to figure it out by ear and use the sheet music if I get stuck? Thanks.
There are more factors in this, but try by ear first and then look it up
@@JensLarsen thanks Jens, I’ll give it a try.
Even though there are tabs or videos out there for most songs i still mostly resist the sheet and say no I'll learn this by listening to the song like in the old days and getting out the piece of paper and writing it down myself - i also tend to remember better in the long run as it is slower to learn by ear than sheet music so slow learning is better for it staying with you. I also think it helps your sense of relative pitch for intervals whether melody or harmony because you're working it out and the relative mistakes let you know when you are right when you get it right.
Also i think a good way to start learning by ear is to start with bass guitar to get those important root note changes that underwrite the song.
A I totally agree with all your saying . Then, again there are many examples of wonderful musicians who couldn't even read music let alone know any. Theory..
Whatever works for you is what you should do in the end 🙂
Brilliant !
Thank you 🙂
Rick Graham in a Jens Larsen video? That’s a win! Man, great insights all around. I have the same weakness with #6 setting up the guitar. I usually leave most setting up to people I trust, but really should get in there, get my hands dirty, and get more into the guitar gear nerd kind of stuff. I’m more of a theory nerd. Thanks for sharing, Jens!
Glad you like it 🙂
On the guitar setup front, I first fiddled around with small electronic mods that Dan Torres use to write about in Vintage Guitar. He doesn’t this anymore, way back in the early 90s before the internet, I ordered his kits by mail and even sent my Hondoll tobacco sunburst for him to do the frets . They were perfect all the way up the neck! Anyway eventually I got up the courage and some knowledge on how to setup my Warmoth Stratocaster. I wasn’t happy how I was coming along so I answered an of a “guitar repair “ guy . We agreed on $300. It took him quite awhile and I wasn’t getting updates. Anyway he finished the work, griped about how long it took and that he should have charged more . I said we agree on $300 and that’s what paid. When played my guitar it was not like the excellent work that Dan Torres had done on my Hondoll Les Paul . I didn’t bother calling the guy . From that point on I work on my own guitars! I’ve upgraded all the parts on my Warmoth Stratocaster with hi quality parts ! It’s still not complete, but it’s my number one electric guitar that originally started it’s life as a National Stratocaster. Custom wounded pickups by Jim Rolph , who did pickups for the great Scotty Henderson . Jim is a great and we talked on the phone like we were old friends! I have someone who is working on one on my acoustics. We did some bartering. He needed free guitars to practice luthiery and I had plenty of candidates to offer , plus he was donating some to veterans which I had to get behind.
Excellent video. And don’t forget people skills when you’re in a band.
(If you are comfortable with a slower pace/less ”action” with text and sound fx I think that your high class content would shine even brighter. Thanx again!)
Thanks Nils! I will keep that in mind, though from what I see in my analytics then the high tempo fits most of the audience better, but that can of course also change 🙂
@@JensLarsen Good point! I just wanted to give some praise to your way of teaching since it's strong enough to "stand" on its own. Keep up the good work!
All the best /Nils /Sweden)
@@nilsgrafo5999 it is not that I don't understand, just that I can really see a difference when I tighten things up and keep the video engaging
Love that Joe Pass Satin Doll intro you put in there, amazing performance for all the players (love the bass vibrato). And Joe drops his pick and doesn't lose the beat. Also the drummer is the father of many Toto members
I agree with what you point out about the advantages of standard notation. But guitar tabs aren't that bad anymore, unlike the tabs you show in the video. I use guitar pro (not even the newest edition). When showing notation and tabs, the rhythm will only be shown in the standard notation. If you turn off the standard notation it shows tabs with rhythm notation. The tabs will even show left hand fingerings if you want to.
Sure, I do still think that it is easier to learn to "hear sheet music" than "hearing tabs" as I also discuss in the video :)
You can put steems on Tabb for timing
Finding other players patient enough to tolerate my playing is by far the biggest challenge. I need a group willing to put up with mistakes, fumbling, etc. Hard to find, in my experience…
If you are equally patient then it might not be as hard as you think
THANK YOU soooooooo much 👌👌🙏🙏👍
Glad you like it 🙂
most guitarists that I meet lack these two: music theory and ear training.
I would also add fingerstyle playing to the list.
I think a lot of musicians lack those two 🙂
Not sure if I think fingerstyle playing is really necessary for everyone, you have a ton of influential guitarists in many styles who never play that.
You have triggered me successfully. Bach, Kenny G and Cleyderman in one list... That is something I never hope to see again!
😁🙏
@@JensLarsen Apology accepted
👉Excellent video Jens! I love how you're putting videos together now, with added humour, important text, great images, all contributing to and complementing your amazing teaching.👌
Thanks so much, Stuart!
Was the "guitarist confronted with real sheet music",reading out of the Kenny G book?
I like the Yamaha Sg in the background
It certainly is a great guitar, and the main character in a part of the video 🙂
@@JensLarsen I bought the body of one for parts and thought I would rebuild it, It is a nightmare finding parts for those guitars.
@@RickDrift Yes, I have also had no luck finding a bridge.
@@JensLarsen Ha so theres a tailpiece alone on ebay for 200 hundred dollars right now, But the bridge is one of the major hiccups for me as well.
Jens, thanks for another great one. You are doing lots and lots of them recently! Good. It may (or may not) surprise you that a beginner, who really can't quite follow you, can still gain much from your vids too. I just stop worrying about it, listen to the words and look at the graphics, etc. And a bit sinks in. I believe so anyway. You're such a smart guy, but also an intellectually scrupulous one! Hahaha... great presenter, speaker/talker too of course. But it's demanding stuff (not this particular one, but others and in general), especially for a beginner. Still motivating! If you even decide to revisit addressing us in the even earlier stages would be great. For example, you mentioned those shell voicing as a great way to pick out a tune. But I didn't see a detailed real-world demo of how to chose a shelling voicing for an individual note in a melody. (unless I missed that). That's just a random idea. (being selfish here) But excellent advice in this vid. Thanks again!
Thank you! "Choosing a shell voicing for a note in the melody" , then I guess you mean making a chord melody arrangement? 🙂
@@JensLarsen Thanks for reponse. Yeah, let's say I am improvising a chord melody from scratch as a beginner. I am using your voicings... so I pick out notes and put the chord on beat 1 (if possible), but still don't get how to chose a shell that sounds right for the note... (would love to see a realistic, simple demo on that)I guess tiral and error? Or... maybe more theory to it. Anyway, minor beginner question (probably an ill formed question, hahaha). But would love to see more for us guys. I see you have an updated vid on the shells, so I'll check it.
@@mattherman6189 did you search for chord melody in my channel?
Here's a recent video ruclips.net/video/5DlCT5F9VRc/видео.html
I would suggest that this is not really a beginner thing to work on though, since it's pretty demanding in terms of fretboard knowledge and theory.
@@JensLarsen Thanks for that. I will check it out. Keep 'em coming! 🙂
I prefer standard sheet music, because I can't figure out rhythms from guitar tabs only.
I learned to read from William Leavitt's Berklee books. Since then, not a single gig I did required reading skills. They never were high paying jobs either... But they did require good ear training skills (no written music).
I've seen outstanding players who can't read a single note.
Thank you for this. I am, on the one hand, dying to play with other people, and on the other, scared to death of it. Encouragement would be welcome.
Music is music. Much more stuff in common than dissimilar.
Certainly!
I gotta memorize the notes on the fretboard to utilize the circle of fifths well🤞
Might be going some but, this is probably the most useful music post on RUclips.\
Thank you! Glad you like it 🙂
Yes I did, but you should really, really emphasise the learning by ear and the playing with other people - that's 99.9% of music.
I primarily play to backing tracks. I have a nasty habit of playing as I drink a couple of beers. I find I play so much better after a couple and have recorded myself to prove it. I don't like this as it makes me reliant on something, but it helps me relax and approach the fretboard from what I hear as opposed to what I know, and also is quite the inspiration to play for some reason.
As primarily an ear player I have developed 'relative pitch' that will allow me to play in whatever key just by hearing a few notes to determine where I'm at. Once you learn a ton of scales the rest is just learning melodic phrasing and not being obnoxious, two things which are as difficult as anything else. Theory helps a ton as playing guitar doesn't make you a musician. Writing music from a logical perspective does. (cue hate here)
I've started learning keyboard as it makes reading music much easier! That could be a tip?
That is useful, but it will not help you as much build a connection between what you hear in your head and what comes out on your guitar.
@@JensLarsen I'm still working on just playing by feel too, but then your fingers seem to mindlessly go to where you need them to go, without you knowing what's going on! and not consistently so you make mistakes. So that's not ideal?
@@chrishandley Playing by feel? Not sure what that is.
I would think that you practice anything so that you don't have to think while you play. If you have to think then it is difficult to make music with it :)
@@JensLarsen perhaps I'm using the wrong term, I mean playing what instinctively sounds right and what I expect to hear along to the music I'm playing to. Nothing complicated and not bebop language or anything like that! What I play sounds right to me but it probably wouldn't to anyone with a well developed ear! I mean utilizing my limited muscle memory language of licks and phrases and matching it to the tone centre that I perceive? If that makes sense?
@@chrishandley That is how you want to play any music, regardless of style. Bebop too.
In a way this is very "advanced" material - yet it seems so obvious. Duh. You have got it exactly right.
#1 Learn to play by ear. I always make my students do this from the first lesson. None of them come to the first lesson already doing this. And they are all mystified by it. It is either some kind of magic, or unreasonably difficult. Back in the day (...haha), there was no YT, no tab (except for acoustic folk stuff in open tunings), and no audio playback at half speed. If you wanted to learn something, you had to do it by ear off of vinyl. This is not just nostalgia; it provides a basic foundation for _making_ sounds (and for #7 Playing with others). I almost always end up in a conversation with my students something like "Why would you want to be able to play something that you can't hear?"
#4 and #5 Learn "theory" and learn to read traditional notation. For the reasons you give. There is some kind of mythology that theory kills creativity. I think it was started by the tab industry... ;-) In any other endeavor that requires expertise, if someone showed you a useful tool you wouldn't say "Oh, that's too difficult!" or "That is going to ruin my rock climbing, or my carpentry, or my painting...!" You may be able to build an incredible house without a hammer, but it is a nonsensical argument that knowing how to use a hammer would not make you make you a better carpenter.
Some might say "I just want to be able to play a couple of songs." or "I just want to get in front of an audience and do my thing." There is nothing wrong with that. But I would argue that that is a different goal than wanting to be a musician.
# Play music with other people. Yes... but I've ranted enough for one post.
The biggest dig people have against learning theory is that many programs insist on starting with 18th Century voice leading and solving figured bass. It’s not useless knowledge, but it doesn’t connect with students who connect emotionally with more modern forms of music.
You've surprised me again! "This is No Laughing Matter," too??? "I Heard You Cried Last Night" was already surprise enough. As to "She's Funny That Way," I'm kind of shocked that in all your experience you haven't had an opportunity to play that one with others, as it is of course a standard, but maybe this is because it seems to be more of a favorite among trad jazz players.
When I was learning Jazz people only knew what was in the realbook, and that was it. Of course also because of the very small very beginner level scene I was in.
It is a pity, I completely forgot those songs, I only dug out I heard You Cried Last Night because I discovered that my teacher in the Hague (who knew all the songs) didn't know that one 🙂
Kakkoii sensei desu!!!
notation isn't all that great though for rhythm. If you got straight rhythm or syncopated written down, it's fine. But as soon as it says ''shuffle rhythm'' or whatever, it's gonna be really tough. Perhaps make a video on that, how to read shuffle notation and your take on nailing fretboard notes memorization
'The bridge bowed inwards'? Maybe the saddles were put in wrong order or were cut wrong..?
You are talking about the SG1000? That is actually common for old Yamaha guitars
1. Show up on time
2. Have your gear together
3. Play in tune.
4. Don't noodle between songs
5. Rehearse at home, practice with the band
6. Play the right gig. Leave the Marshall stack at home for the coffee house gig
7. Learn to play with great time first. If your time sucks, it doesn't matter what you play.